After 5 years, I guess the Honda bug bit me again. I restored a CB360 then, and it works nice now, but I always found it a bit lacking in power, and not really suitable for a longer trip.
So, today, in the morning, I bought a Honda CB450 DOHC. This engine always fascinated me. It shows innovation and some very nice solutions to certain problems, that even later motorcycles had. I saw it yesterday on a motorcycle swap-meeting/fair in Germany. After a day of bartering, we settled for a price and I brought it home. I know nothing about the motorcycle (the person who sold it was Italian and he understood only a few foreign words). I think it must be from 1971 or maybe later. It has a few dents and scratches, but it is still in a fairly original state. I will try to leave it as it is. The tank is surprisingly completely rust-free. I have started the bike an hour ago, and it started up very fast, but the fuel petcock/valve is broken, and the carbs soon started to leak if I left the fuel on. The carbs are in nice condition (incredibly easy to remove the float bowl and check, I wish they kept this BMW-ish feature on their other models, it only has a clip to hold it), I suspect they only need new seals (I hope the floats are not leaking). There was some clean oil in the engine, but I will change it before I start it another time (seems like the bike was standing for a long time, the tyres are surely from the 70's). The seat and the handlebar are not original, but I think it will not be that hard to find them.
So, what are the things I need to check on this bike? As far as I know, they did not have any engine problems (and the engine ran very quietly for the few minutes that it was running, so it seems fine). I have this on my list:
-cleaning the carbs, replacing the seals, checking the floats... (possibly without removing the carbs from the bike, the manifolds seem very good, but I suspect they could be problematic and expensive if they break while I am removing the carbs).
-cleaning and adjusting the points (and replacing them later on, but just cleaning them should do the trick for testing it), and the advance mechanism, and adjusting the ignition
-checking the valve clearance
-replacing the oil and cleaning the filter,
-replacing the tyres and the chain (the rear sprocket seems very small, maybe someone replaced it for low rpm),
-probably need to replace the fork seals and new fork oil,
-overhaul the front brake, with a new stainless steel line,
-spark plugs,
-replacement original old seat (do they fit from other models?) and handlebars,
-fit the rear turn signals (I probably have a spare pair),
-new rubber grips,
-I need to thoroughly check the cables for any damage (I don't want to replace them, they are original white and seem fine), and also a check of all other bolts and nuts,
-the exhausts are not original, and it will probably be very hard to find an original pair, so I will keep these for now (or maybe if I find a less rusted pair of nice mufflers).
I think that is more or less it. I want to make a list of things, and keep the costs to a minimum. I want to keep the bike original.
On the photo, the bike was still not cleaned. I will take some more photos tomorrow.
So, today, in the morning, I bought a Honda CB450 DOHC. This engine always fascinated me. It shows innovation and some very nice solutions to certain problems, that even later motorcycles had. I saw it yesterday on a motorcycle swap-meeting/fair in Germany. After a day of bartering, we settled for a price and I brought it home. I know nothing about the motorcycle (the person who sold it was Italian and he understood only a few foreign words). I think it must be from 1971 or maybe later. It has a few dents and scratches, but it is still in a fairly original state. I will try to leave it as it is. The tank is surprisingly completely rust-free. I have started the bike an hour ago, and it started up very fast, but the fuel petcock/valve is broken, and the carbs soon started to leak if I left the fuel on. The carbs are in nice condition (incredibly easy to remove the float bowl and check, I wish they kept this BMW-ish feature on their other models, it only has a clip to hold it), I suspect they only need new seals (I hope the floats are not leaking). There was some clean oil in the engine, but I will change it before I start it another time (seems like the bike was standing for a long time, the tyres are surely from the 70's). The seat and the handlebar are not original, but I think it will not be that hard to find them.
So, what are the things I need to check on this bike? As far as I know, they did not have any engine problems (and the engine ran very quietly for the few minutes that it was running, so it seems fine). I have this on my list:
-cleaning the carbs, replacing the seals, checking the floats... (possibly without removing the carbs from the bike, the manifolds seem very good, but I suspect they could be problematic and expensive if they break while I am removing the carbs).
-cleaning and adjusting the points (and replacing them later on, but just cleaning them should do the trick for testing it), and the advance mechanism, and adjusting the ignition
-checking the valve clearance
-replacing the oil and cleaning the filter,
-replacing the tyres and the chain (the rear sprocket seems very small, maybe someone replaced it for low rpm),
-probably need to replace the fork seals and new fork oil,
-overhaul the front brake, with a new stainless steel line,
-spark plugs,
-replacement original old seat (do they fit from other models?) and handlebars,
-fit the rear turn signals (I probably have a spare pair),
-new rubber grips,
-I need to thoroughly check the cables for any damage (I don't want to replace them, they are original white and seem fine), and also a check of all other bolts and nuts,
-the exhausts are not original, and it will probably be very hard to find an original pair, so I will keep these for now (or maybe if I find a less rusted pair of nice mufflers).
I think that is more or less it. I want to make a list of things, and keep the costs to a minimum. I want to keep the bike original.
On the photo, the bike was still not cleaned. I will take some more photos tomorrow.
